Good Morning Focused, Running to Win, Sheep of the Good Shepherd! Amen! Please Lord! This salutation flows straight from our devotionals (below) for . I've had a very sleepless night . Many of us know sometimes it's just hard to sleep with nothing on our minds keeping us awake and some of us struggle with overthinking and things stirring us to being awake when it's bed time. There's not much I can do when the first scenario hits. I get up (sometimes, like , a couple of times) and head to my office to pray, meditate and maybe even play some games hoping to get tired enough to sleep. Usually God has something to say and when I process and pray He brings tiredness and allows me some sleep time. And there are often naps throughout the day. When the later hits, I pray, sing praise songs and hymns as prayers and lift some and usually sleep comes as I do. Whatever reason, I know God is with me, speaking and working all things together for good and I find peace in that reality. And He always redeems the hours spent with Him whether in pour prayer closets or in bed praying. How cool, right!
I (and my sisters) have been carrying a heavy burden with what we would do with mom when we bring her home. God lifted that concern when He called her home. Yet we have not been able to have full closure during our time of mourning. Next week Karen and I and possibly my sister, Bev, will be traveling to Florida to get mom's cremains and hold a memorial service at Terry's (her companion, who himself is drawing close to his last days on earth). We have executor duties to do for mom and some things my sister needs to do as Terry's POA. It's a lot! Then we bring mom home and will have a service up here . There are things that need to happen up here too. Add to all this my sister Connie's declining health with many doc appointments and struggles with heart and severe asthma. To say I am a bit distracted is a reality. PTL that I was saving vacation to go down and help get mom ready to bury Terry and move home. Now God has arranged to be able to use that and my bereavement and spiritual retreat time to take a mini-sabbatical. (we have to use vacations before July when they renew). So beginning ('s are usually my day off and this year Karen is off for her birthday (39 again!)), I will be out of the office until . PTL for Sarah and Mike and all of you that allow this time to regroup and refresh without worry! Thank you for your prayers and encouragements! I will be in church leading worship.
With all of this being said, our Zoom Huddle is on indefinite break. We will probably resume in some manner in July. Our . evening dinner huddle will resume in the Fellowship Hall from 6-7:30. We are scheduling a night at Rita's (wear your St. Matt's shirts) at 6. We will celebrate our summer communion . (& brunch) and sometime after that I will do our homebound visits. I may be at a few Bread Ministry days throughout the break time, as God leads. Needless to say after , these blogs will appear sporadically as God leads. And I expect He often will have something for me to share with you, but, probably not daily. I'll be praying for you and we always appreciate all of you, your prayers and your serving and filling the gap! I'll be thinking of, praising God for and praying for you often. He is with us and for us and His will is always going to happen in His timing. We love you guys! Thank you!
Now, check out the devos below and talk to God. He spoke to my heart and encouraged me. I'm praying He will do the same for you. Be still and know, Pray, prepare and go live and love like Jesus! He is our Good Shepherd who wants to lead us to still waters and fruitful green pastures and He always walks with us through every valley and over every mountain top. We need to rest in Him and keep focused on Him and moving with Him to His perfect plans. Don't forget to partner up and help each other to run your races well and for His glory. He loves these things and He loves you and is calling you by name--come! Continue to work at being Focused, Running to Win, Sheep of the Good Shepherd. Amen and Shalom shalom!
Upper Room: Our Shepherd
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. - Psalm 23:1 (NIV)
My husband and I used to travel to villages in south India to visit rural churches during our ministry. Some villages had no proper roads, so we had to travel by jeep or oxcart on rugged terrain. This caused me severe neck pain that eventually developed into spondylitis.
A pastor from our church visited and saw my neck brace, so he prayed for me. He encouraged me to repeat Psalm 23 daily and meditate on it. This began my daily practice of meditating on this beautiful psalm. The pain in my neck eventually went away, but my practice continues.
Psalm 23 is a beautiful expression of trust, dependence, and assurance of God’s care and provision in all circumstances. David was a shepherd and knew what it meant to care for his sheep and protect them from harm. He led his sheep to green pastures and beside still water. Like every good shepherd, he knew his sheep and they knew his voice.
God is our shepherd. God not only cares for our physical well-being but also for our spiritual health. God brings healing and wholeness to our innermost being. Even through life’s most challenging moments, we can be assured of God’s presence and protection.
's Prayer
Loving God, thank you for nurturing us with your word and blessing us with your gracious presence in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
The Word for You :
Our Daily Bread
Longing for Home
If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth. Psalm 137:5-6
Ethel and Ed live in the high desert area of the Rocky Mountains. As our family visited them on their ranch filled with memorabilia, the conversation turned to childhood stories of riding horses on the grasslands of North Dakota and herding cattle in Montana. They’re on in years now, and I could hear in their voices a longing for home.
Psalm 137 captures a similar emotion. The Israelites had been forced into captivity and longed for home. “By the rivers of Babylon we and wept,” they said. “There our captors asked us for songs” (vv. 1, 3), prompting the Israelites to ask, “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” (v. 4).
The longing to return from exile is a common theme throughout the Old Testament prophets. Eventually the Israelites did return. They rebuilt Jerusalem and resettled in the land, but it was never the same. When the temple was rebuilt, those who remembered its former glory wept because it was a shadow of the first (Ezra 3:12).
Old age may feel as if we’re in exile from our former selves as time takes a toll on mind and body. For those who know Jesus, this longing points not to the past but the future. That’s where my conversation turned with Ethel and Ed—a longing for our future home, where everything is made right and is far better than anything we can imagine.
By Matt Lucas
REFLECT & PRAY
What do you miss from the past? How might this longing help you anticipate the future?
Father in heaven, thank You that You’re with me in every stage of life and that You’re preparing a bright future for me.
“There on the poplars we hung our harps,” says the psalmist of the Jewish exiles, whose desolate situation quenched their musical passions (Psalm 137:2). This national despondency metastasized into bitterness, and the songwriter concludes on a disturbing note: “Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks” (v. 9). Many have attempted to explain away this horrifying imagery. One plausible interpretation, however, is that these exiles had witnessed such atrocities committed against their own children. In turn, they anticipated divine judgment of their tormentors. Their desire isn’t to carry this out personally but rather to let God exact His vengeance (vv. 7-8). But the song clings to hope with its focus on Jerusalem (vv. 5-6)—the city of God. Our own griefs and regrets in life may make us feel like we’re in exile, but we too can find hope by trusting our loving God and resting in the promise of our future home with Him.
Tim Gustafson
Prayer Points
Praise God as the one from whom all things have come; praise him as the one to whom you are going when you are called home.
Thank God that your relationship with him extends beyond this life.
Confess the times when your focus has been only on physical needs, not God’s eternal purpose for you (Mt. 6:33).
Commit yourself to seeking God’s will for you and to hearing the voice of his Spirit through the preaching of the Word.
Ask God to reveal himself to you in his splendor and glory.
Pray for those preachers in other countries who must serve eight or ten churches at a time. Ask God to give them strength and to provide lay leaders who can minister in their absence.
Prayer Points taken from Patterns for Prayer by Alvin VanderGriend. This book is available at prayerleader.com. Use the code CONPSP3 at checkout to receive an additional 10% discount.
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